# Copyright, trademark or patent — which one

Source: https://luatbanquyen.com/en/insights/copyright-trademark-or-patent · Updated: 2026-08-17 · Reviewed: 2026-08-17

Three rights stop three different things. Choosing wrong is not less protection — it is no protection where you actually need it.

These three are habitually lumped together as "registering copyright", but they protect three entirely different things.

## The decisive question

Do not ask which is strongest. Ask: **what do you want to stop someone doing?**

Stopping people copying your content, images or code is copyright. Stopping them trading under a similar name or logo is a trademark. Stopping them building products using your technical solution is a patent or utility solution. Stopping them making products that look like yours is an industrial design. Stopping a departing employee taking your formula to a competitor is trade secret law plus contract.

## Three core differences

**How you get it.** Copyright is automatic and free. Trademarks and patents require an application, examination and fees, and can be refused.

**What is protected.** Copyright protects the **specific expression** — someone rewriting the same idea in their own words does not infringe. A trademark protects a **sign in trade** for the classes you registered. A patent protects a **technical solution** — even against someone who devised it independently.

That last point is worth pausing on: a patent is the only one of the three that stops **independent creation**. Under copyright, if two people write similar works without copying each other, both hold rights.

**Duration.** Copyright is longest — life plus 50 years. Patents run 20 years without renewal. Trademarks run 10 years but renew indefinitely, so in practice they can outlast everything.

## Example: a mobile app

One software product can touch all four at once. Source code is copyright (automatic; register for evidence at VND 600,000). The app name and logo are a trademark (must be registered, in the right Nice classes). The interface artwork is copyright as applied art. The core algorithm is a patent or a trade secret — computer programs as such are not patentable, though a technical solution using software may be. The user database is a trade secret needing confidentiality agreements and access controls.

If the budget covers only one, choose the **trademark**. It is the only right you simply do not have without registering, and the only one someone else can take from you.

## The commonest mistake

Registering copyright in a logo and assuming the brand is protected.

A copyright certificate for a work of applied art confirms you own the **artwork**. That helps against the designer who made it, or against outright copying of the image. It does **not** give exclusivity over the sign in trade, and it does **not** stop a competitor registering a similar mark and forcing you to abandon the very logo you copyrighted.

If you are unsure, run the [advisor tool](/tools/what-to-register) — a few questions and it points to the right for your situation.

## Cited documents

- [Consolidated document 67/VBHN-VPQH — Law on Intellectual Property](/en/legal-documents/ip-law-consolidated) — In force

## Sources

- [Consolidated Law on Intellectual Property](https://thuvienphapluat.vn/van-ban/So-huu-tri-tue/Van-ban-hop-nhat-67-VBHN-VPQH-2026-Luat-So-huu-tri-tue-700846.aspx) (67/VBHN-VPQH)

- Previous: [AI and copyright under the 2026 framework](/en/insights/ai-and-copyright)
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Reference material only; it does not replace legal advice on a specific matter.